The objective of this study on the
Development of 13 Mozambican Municipalities in Central and
Northern Mozambique is to assess the impact that the 2008
reforms on own-source revenues is having on the municipal
revenue potential. To do so, it calculates the revenue
potential of four fiscal and three non-fiscal revenue
sources. The analysis shows that there is substantial
untapped revenue potential at the municipal level, with
estimates indicating that -in the case of the most buoyant
local revenue sources- municipalities are only collecting
about half of the revenue potential. In the worst cases,
municipalities are collecting far less than 10 percent of
the total revenue potential of a local revenue source. The
fact that a revenue gaps exists is not only an indication of
weak municipal performance. Municipalities have relatively
recently been created and it takes time, capacity, and
effort, to consolidate their revenue functions. Tax
administration is overall still weak and a series of vacuums
exist on the municipal fiscal legislation. The analysis
reveals that the current revenue instruments at the disposal
of municipalities are generally appropriate municipal
revenue instruments...

Its highly fragmented structure of local governments and serious horizontal fiscal imbalances make Switzerland a surprisingly powerful model for Eastern European countries that are currently facing the challenge of fiscal decentralization. In spite of the substantial differences in the tradition and current practice of intergovernmental fiscal relations, transition economies may learn valuable lessons from the Swiss case in the fields of direct democracy, horizontal cooperation, expenditure and revenue assignment, and fiscal discipline. Among other conclusions, the authors suggest that subnational authorities can effectively fend off recentralization attempts of the central government if they engage in spontaneous cooperation to enhance the efficiency of public service provision. Together with an adequate fiscal equalization scheme, interjurisdictional cooperation also permits the reconciliation of the objective of an increasing devolution of powers with the existing regional disparities. The authors also show that the principle of subsidiarity can best be safeguarded by anchoring the expenditure and revenue powers of subnational governments in the constitution or in a similarly strong law. With regard to fiscal discipline, the combination of a "golden rule" with direct democratic instruments of budget control is proven to be successful in enhancing the accountability of local politicians toward their constituencies.

In early 1998, the World Bank prepared a
paper on the decentralization and participation policies
outlined but not fully implemented by the Congolese
government in the early days of the third republic. If the
country has since receded into war, it is perhaps in part
because these ideas were never properly put into practice.
Rather than de-legitimizing them, the renewed war makes it
even more important that these ideas be heard.
Centralization has a long history in the Congo. Though with
different justifications and characteristics, central
government dominated decision-making and execution during
both the colonial period and the second republic. Regarding
decision-making, "everything came from above without
any explanations". Though local authorities had certain
powers, these were more often than not abused rather than
used in the interest of the population. Infrequent contact
between central authorities and the population resulted in
many provinces and territories being, and remaining,
enclaved without access to neighboring regions...

When properly designed, community based
programs can be highly effective in managing natural
resources, providing basic infrastructure or ensuring
primary social services. Participation in community based
development (CBD) depends on reversing control and
accountability from central authorities to community
organizations. Successful design requires tapping into local
needs, understanding and building on the strengths of
existing institutions, and defining the changes needed in
intermediary implementing agencies to support community action.

Addressing regional disparities in
access to public services is an emerging development
challenge for Thailand. A well-functioning system of
Central-Local Government Relations and proactive expenditure
policy can help achieve this goal. Providing responsive and
accountable public services are necessary for maintaining
trust of the citizens in government and fostering cohesion
within a unitary state like Thailand. Without a reversal of
current regional disparities in access to public services
and addressing tensions that are present in the
central-local architecture, Thailand runs the risk of
eroding public trust in government and leading to further
polarization. Thailand has a significant opportunity to
improve delivery of public services by: (i) making access to
public services more uniform across the country; (ii)
transitioning fully to a unitary decentralized form of
government with clearly demarcated roles and accountability
structures between different levels of government
(especially within health and education sectors) and to
administratively consolidate Laos into larger more
financially viable entities; and (iii) establishing national
service delivery standards...

Subnational fiscal autonomy-the basis
for fiscal federalism in modern federations-is meant to
serve two roles. First, local control over revenue
collection is meant to provide a check on the capacity of
central authorities to tax arbitrarily local capital.
Second, retention of taxes raised locally is meant to
establish incentives for subnational governmental
authorities to foster endemic economic growth as a way of
promoting local tax bases. But in the Russian Federation,
fiscally autonomous regions have often resisted
market-oriented reforms, the enactment of rules protecting
private property, and the dismantling of price controls and
barriers to trade. The authors find statistical evidence in
support of the hypothesis that fiscal incentives of the
Russian regions represent an important determinant of
regional economic performance. The authors also seek to
understand the conditions under which fiscal autonomy
prompts regional growth and recovery, and the conditions
under which it has adverse economic effects. They argue that
the presence of "unearned" income
streams-particularly in the form of revenues from natural
resource production or from budgetary transfers from the
central government-has turned regions dependent on these
income sources into "rentier" regions. As such...

Entering the 21st century, the 1999-2000
World Development Report (WDR), identifies two main forces
that are shaping the world in which development policy is
being defined and implemented: (i) globalization, the
increasing worldwide integration of private sector
interaction and commercial relationships; and (ii)
localization, a process of devolving fiscal and
administrative roles and responsibilities from central to
sub-national tiers of government. It goes on to note that
these global-private and local-public pressures are not only
reinforcing, but also challenging traditional paradigms and
forms of intergovernmental systems. Political
decentralization, often associated with pluralistic politics
and representative government, aims to give citizens more
say in public policy and decision-making. Its advocates
assume that decisions made with greater participation will
be better informed and more relevant to diverse interests in
society than those made only by national political
authorities. The concept implies that the selection of
representatives from local electoral jurisdictions allows
citizens to know better their political representatives and
allows elected officials to know better the needs and
desires of their constituents. Administrative
decentralization aims to redistribute authority...

After more than 35 years, the elected
local government system in Lesotho was reestablished in 2005
through the election of the Local Authorities, i.e. the
Community and District Councils (CCs and DCs). Across the
political spectrum, the political will to move forward was
at its peak. An exemplary campaign to educate the entire
population as to the purposes and functioning of the new
Local Authorities, and the electoral process preceded the
election. The purposes of the new system are the improvement
in services and access to government, broad participation of
the local population in their own development combined with
enhanced accountability to them, and promotion of equitable
development in all parts of the country. The establishment
of the Local Authorities and their election was received by
even the remotest populations with great enthusiasm, and the
elected Councilors have taken up their job with energy and
commitment. The objectives of this report derive from the
general priorities of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
of Lesotho which emphasizes pro-poor growth...

The approach taken by authorities in the
oversight and supervision of FMIs is important in promoting
and maintaining financial stability in Moldova. While
well-functioning FMIs can greatly improve the efficiency,
transparency, and safety of financial systems, they can also
concentrate systemic risk, which requires effective
oversight and supervision to achieve public policy
objectives. In the context of Moldova, the authorities are
confronted with a national decision to create a single CSD
that has good governance, robust risk management practices,
and financial soundness. Vulnerabilities in FMIs could
potentially undermine the implementation of monetary policy,
or generate systemic disruptions in the financial markets,
and more widely across the economy. A problem may be
initiated by the inability of a participant to settle its
obligations, or by operational failures of the system as a
whole. The resulting default may be passed on to other
participants, and get transmitted across financial systems
and markets...

The purpose of the Sofia City Strategy
(SCS) is to combat poverty and provide the basis for
sustainable development of the local economy and the welfare
of city residents. SCS is driven by the need to reevaluate
the increased role of Bulgarian local authorities that
resulted from the country's transition from socialism
to a market economy. Launching a long-term strategy for
Sofia will provide the municipality with an opportunity to
effectively implement the goals that it set out to achieve
in the three to five year period ahead. Sofia's city
management initiated work on the strategy in 2000 after
cities alliance committed to support the initiative. The
strategy draws upon the preferences and expectations of the
population that were identified through analyses,
consultations and surveys undertaken by international
organizations and experts during strategy development. Five
broad areas have been identified as key components of the
strategy: i) the role of the municipality in the development
and growth of the city economy; ii) the provision of
infrastructure...

Libya's 2008-12 development
programs is the biggest and most ambitious Public Investment
Program (PIP) ever. Public expenditure has also been
pro-poor. Past outcomes show that Libyan authorities have
worked on their macroeconomic and social fundamentals, so as
to have a solid base to sustain its steady progress toward
building a market-based economy and reintegrating into the
world economy. Making optimal use of a sizable public
expenditure, and especially public investment, is an
essential component of achieving this strategy. The reports
built upon the framework of fiscal management in
oil-dependent economies, which features three parts. The
first deals with collecting and saving oil revenues, leading
to one stream of a large literature exploring both fiscal
sustainability and the pros and cons of alternative models
of an oil stabilization fund. The second deals with
development spending, leading to a second stream of a large
literature assessing standards in public investment and the
many effects of sizable public investment programs. The
third deals with financing current spending...

This report reviews intergovernmental
fiscal relations in Moldova and recommends ways to improve
the efficiency and equity of local public finance, while
maintaining fiscal sustainability. Local public authorities
are responsible for meeting key public service delivery
needs. They play a major role in education and bear primary
responsibility for urban and rural functions such as water
supply and local road construction and maintenance. But
local authorities are unable to fulfill this role due to
sub-optimal size, inadequate financial capacity, and low
administrative capacity. The Government of Moldova is
reforming intergovernmental fiscal relations, as part of
broader commitments under the national decentralization
strategy (2012). They set new rates for sharing national
taxes with the two tiers of local government, introduce
formulas for transfers to local governments, and remove
subordination in financial relations between top and bottom
tiers of local government. This report reviews recent
reforms in local public finance and makes suggestions to
further improve subnational expenditures...

Drawing on the findings from responses
to a survey conducted in 2008-09 from 114 central banks
worldwide (of which 33 are in Africa), this paper aims to
better understand how central banks and other national
institutions regulate and collect data and other information
on cross-border remittance flows. Findings indicate that,
although the vast majority of countries, in both sending and
receiving countries, collect data on remittances, and 43
percent of receiving countries estimate informal
remittances, there is a need for more frequent and better
coordinated data collection, both across national
institutions and among different divisions within the same
national institution, as well as between countries. Survey
results also indicate that many new market entrants'
transfer activities are unregulated. Countries must take
into account new channels and technologies, such as mobile
phone service providers, in monitoring remittance flows. It
will be important for national regulatory authorities to
work closely with mobile telecoms network operators to
strike the right regulatory balance...

China has experienced more than 25 years of extraordinary economic growth. Underlying this growth has been a decentralized fiscal system, in which provinces and large cities are given the freedom to make infrastructure investments to stimulate local development, and are allowed to retain a large part of the fiscal revenues that are generated from economic activity. Although successful as a growth strategy, this policy created two problems for national fiscal management. First, it significantly reduced the central government's share of fiscal revenues, which fell from 34.8 percent in 1980 to 22 percent in 1992. Second, it widened economic and fiscal disparities between the rapidly growing urban coastal region and the rest of the country. Rapid growth in subnational debt (which rose 23-fold in a decade) and subnational nonperforming loans (estimated by the authors to range between US$100 billion and US$150 billion) has placed pressure on China's financial system. Traditionally, China has favored bank lending as a source of finance because the banking system has provided a vehicle for central political control over local debt. But as China's financial system matures, creditworthiness standards must become more important. The authors recommend greater use of the revenue streams from infrastructure assets as a financing source...

The public financial management (PFM)
performance assessment in Mali covered all central
government revenues and expenditures and the institutions
responsible for their management. This means that the
assessment covered central government ministries and
institutions, along with their de concentrated units in the
regions (governors' staff); and autonomous government
agencies, of which there were 82 at the time of the
assessment. The report consists of: a brief review of
Mali's economic situation and the legal and
institutional framework for public financial management
(section two); a description of the background and the
scores attributed to each PEFA performance indicator
(section three); and a summary of the Government's
reform program and the institutional factors that are likely
to impact planning and implementation of reforms (section four).

The public financial management (PFM)
performance assessment in Mali covered all central
government revenues and expenditures and the institutions
responsible for their management. This means that the
assessment covered central government ministries and
institutions, along with their de concentrated units in the
regions (governors' staff); and autonomous government
agencies, of which there were 82 at the time of the
assessment. The report consists of: a brief review of
Mali's economic situation and the legal and
institutional framework for public financial management
(section two); a description of the background and the
scores attributed to each PEFA performance indicator
(section three); and a summary of the Government's
reform program and the institutional factors that are likely
to impact planning and implementation of reforms (section four).

This Policy Note is designed to inform
the Government of Vietnam and National Assembly (notably the
Committee on Finance and Budgetary Affairs, CFBA)
discussions on the revision of the State Budget Law (SBL)
(2002) by drawing on good international practices in budget
management. It is part of the World Bank s ongoing policy
dialogue with and advice to the Government and the National
Assembly on revisions to the SBL (2002). The SBL (2002) has
provided a strong basis for regulating Public Finance
Management (PFM) in Vietnam since 2004, when the Law became
effective. It has helped the government to allocate and
spend public resources in an effective manner, thereby
contributing to delivery of important public service
outcomes. The SBL (2002), however, needs to be revised to
enhance Vietnam s fiscal regulatory framework and
accountability. The Policy Note covers seven broad areas
including: (i) the coverage and layout of the SBL (2002);
(ii) the budget framework for fiscal policy making; (iii)
budget approval processes at the National Assembly and
Provincial People s Councils; (iv) specific budget
classification and definition issues; (v) intergovernmental
fiscal relations; (vi) budget execution...

This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted by the World Bank of central banks in 40 developing countries across different regions in the world. The survey focused on the following topics: (1) coverage of national statistics on remittances, (2) cost of transferring and delivering remittances, (3) regulatory regime for remittance transactions, and (4) efforts of developing countries to channel remittance flows through formal financial institutions. The study finds that in most countries existing data do not reflect the full amount of remittance inflows that they receive every year. Coverage of instruments and financial institutions through which remittances take place is limited. Moreover, only a few countries measure remittances that take place through informal channels. It also finds that the scope of financial authorities in developing countries to reduce remittance fees is limited because a large part of the fees charged to customers are set by financial institutions located in the countries where transactions originate. Cooperation between sending and recipient countries is needed to reduce remittance costs. The survey finds that in several countries money transfer companies are not properly supervised. Given the increasing international concerns with money laundering and terrorism financing issues...

This report is designed to assist the
authorities develop an overall road map for reforming budget
preparation. A specific focus is on the steps to be taken to
introduce a medium-term framework for the central
government's budget and a performance-based budget.
These reforms require important preconditions to be in
place, and a substantial change in the culture, incentives
and behavior of the public service, and are likely to take
several years to complete. Successive Indonesian governments
have embarked on various reforms in the budget and public
financial management system. New laws for governing budget
and planning processes were adopted during 2003-04, which
are gradually being implemented. The national development
planning agency (BAPPENAS) and spending ministries have
developed strategic government and ministerial plans that
provide a basis for elaborating the framework for
performance measurement and evaluation. Reforms are thus
starting from a secure base and can also take advantage of
the improved and stable macroeconomic and fiscal conditions...

This is the final version of the article. It was first available from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12939-015-0256-x; Introduction: If an intervention is not well spatially targeted, appropriate levels of uptake, efficacy, long-term compliance and improved health outcomes are unlikely to be attained. Effective health interventions should seek to achieve not only absolute improvements in health but also to reduce inequity. There is often a disparity whereby preventative interventions are more likely to be successful amongst the more affluent, a process which has been coined the ?inverse prevention law?. Physical inactivity is known to be socially patterned and disproportionately prevalent in disadvantaged communities yet there is a lack of clear evidence on which interventions have the potential to influence inequity.
Walking groups have been found to have multiple health benefits and increase physical activity. In England the major facilitator is a not for profit organisation which has 70,000 regular walkers and is lay led with 10,000 volunteers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent to which walking groups operated in those places with the greatest health need and whether consequently the scheme has the potential to influence health inequity.
Method: The work used a spatial approach whereby geographical variations in walking group provision within the 326 local authorities in England (mean population 163...